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Aspen Kirby

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Greetings, fellow wanderers!

Hi there! I am so glad you stopped by! Let me start by introducing myself - my name is Aspen. I am a wife, mother to 4 amazing children, a photographer, and an environmental science student/aspiring oceanographer. I love all things water and am determined to save the planet. I also love to wander (go figure)!
Here at Gone Wandering you will find photos of beautiful places and stories about our adventures, as well as tips and tricks to make wandering a little more bank account friendly. Also be on the lookout for the "Enviro Fact" cards in each post to learn some interesting stuff about the world we live (and love to wander) in, then get inspired to get out there and see it for yourself!

Follow me on Instagram!

Food for wandering

Dining out every day while traveling can really add up. In fact, the 3 times we went somewhere to eat during our Honeyversary 2016 trip added up to more than what we spent on gas for our entire trip. (Around $130 for dining out versus $103 for gas.)
Here are a few tips, tricks, and recipes to make eating while wandering a little easier on the pocketbook.

- Bring a cooler, plates, utensils, and a pot and pan, along with any seasonings you will need from home. (To be more environmentally-friendly, we brought real plates and utensils opposed to disposable ones, as well as refillable water bottles.)

- If you happen to have a small, portable grill, bring that as well along with a bag of charcoal. (Make sure you check to see where you are allowed to use your grill. Lots of beaches, parks, and even rest areas allow this, but there are plenty that do not. Also make sure you follow all the posted guidelines, properly dispose of your coals, and clean up after yourself.)

- Unless you have a huge cooler and the room to stow it, try to plan meals that require as few "refrigerated" ingredients as possible. (Example: We brought a couple of potatoes, a pack of the small tomatoes, a cucumber, and a pack of pre-cooked Hormel bacon. With these non-refrigerated items I was able to make our dinner on Day 4 of Honeyversary 2016.)

- If you are traveling with only a small cooler, plan at least one trip to the grocery store during your trip to restock on more perishable items.

- When choosing snack food for the road, try to stick to healthy options. Granola, fresh and/or dehydrated fruits, nuts, etc, are better snacking options than chips and sweets. Not only are they healthier, they also keep you feeling full longer.

- Pack a spaghetti strainer (or two) and place upside down over food while grilling/picnicking to keep flies and other bugs off.

- If you have a cooler prone to leaking or you have things that don't need to be floating in ice water, use frozen bottles of water instead of ice to keep everything cold without getting watery.

- With a little ingenuity, you can make almost anything on a grill. Remember that people were cooking over an open fire long before we had fancy stovetops and convection ovens.

Aspen Kirby

Sign up here so you don't miss anything!

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 342 other followers

Greetings, fellow wanderers!

Hi there! I am so glad you stopped by! Let me start by introducing myself - my name is Aspen. I am a wife, mother to 4 amazing children, a photographer, and an environmental science student/aspiring oceanographer. I love all things water and am determined to save the planet. I also love to wander (go figure)!
Here at Gone Wandering you will find photos of beautiful places and stories about our adventures, as well as tips and tricks to make wandering a little more bank account friendly. Also be on the lookout for the "Enviro Fact" cards in each post to learn some interesting stuff about the world we live (and love to wander) in, then get inspired to get out there and see it for yourself!

Follow me on Instagram!

Food for wandering

Dining out every day while traveling can really add up. In fact, the 3 times we went somewhere to eat during our Honeyversary 2016 trip added up to more than what we spent on gas for our entire trip. (Around $130 for dining out versus $103 for gas.)
Here are a few tips, tricks, and recipes to make eating while wandering a little easier on the pocketbook.

- Bring a cooler, plates, utensils, and a pot and pan, along with any seasonings you will need from home. (To be more environmentally-friendly, we brought real plates and utensils opposed to disposable ones, as well as refillable water bottles.)

- If you happen to have a small, portable grill, bring that as well along with a bag of charcoal. (Make sure you check to see where you are allowed to use your grill. Lots of beaches, parks, and even rest areas allow this, but there are plenty that do not. Also make sure you follow all the posted guidelines, properly dispose of your coals, and clean up after yourself.)

- Unless you have a huge cooler and the room to stow it, try to plan meals that require as few "refrigerated" ingredients as possible. (Example: We brought a couple of potatoes, a pack of the small tomatoes, a cucumber, and a pack of pre-cooked Hormel bacon. With these non-refrigerated items I was able to make our dinner on Day 4 of Honeyversary 2016.)

- If you are traveling with only a small cooler, plan at least one trip to the grocery store during your trip to restock on more perishable items.

- When choosing snack food for the road, try to stick to healthy options. Granola, fresh and/or dehydrated fruits, nuts, etc, are better snacking options than chips and sweets. Not only are they healthier, they also keep you feeling full longer.

- Pack a spaghetti strainer (or two) and place upside down over food while grilling/picnicking to keep flies and other bugs off.

- If you have a cooler prone to leaking or you have things that don't need to be floating in ice water, use frozen bottles of water instead of ice to keep everything cold without getting watery.

- With a little ingenuity, you can make almost anything on a grill. Remember that people were cooking over an open fire long before we had fancy stovetops and convection ovens.